COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE PRAGMA-DIALECTICAL CODE OF CONDUCT AND BULGARIA’S MEDIATION ACT. THEORETICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF MEDIATION
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Date
2025
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Plovdiv University Press
Abstract
The adoption of the Mediation Act in Bulgaria in December 2004 granted Bulgarian citizens the right to seek and participate in the voluntary, informal, and confidential process of mediation. In the context of Bulgarian law, mediation is defined as an alternative method for resolving legal and non-legal disputes. This normative dimension is underpinned, in no small part, by the Dutch theoretical framework of pragma-dialectics – a process of analyzing and evaluating argumentative discourse in practice, whether political, media-related, community-based, or otherwise. The present report aims to analyze the points of intersection between mediation and pragma-dialectics by comparing the dialectical essence of dispute resolution with the practicality of mediated critical discussion. Additionally, a focus will be placed on critical observations regarding gaps in the regulatory framework related to the governance of mediation activities in Bulgaria.
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Keywords
Mediation Act, Argumentation Theory, Disputes